Cuts
by Auroura
Summary: - "My only request is to be accorded the same consideration that I have given you." Xehanort's Heartless and Riku. Awakenings flavored; gen, but you can view it otherwise if you really wish. Originally done for writers muses on LJ.


Title: Cuts  
Characters/Pairing: Xehanort's Heartless (and Xehanort), Riku  
Summary: "My only request is to be accorded the same consideration that I have given you."  
Note: This was written originally for the Livejournal community writers_muses. Additional notes regarding the Awakenings verse at the end.

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**Cuts**

x

_"The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall: the__  
__desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall."_ - Francis Bacon

x

"I must admit that I find your logic to be inherently flawed, Riku." The boy glares at him, and it would be comical, save that fact that it was interfering with his plans. "You constantly protest that you want nothing to do with me, yet you completely disregard the fact that you naturally seek out the Darkness."

"Just because I accept the darkness, it doesn't mean I have to accept _you_." Always, the boy had to interrupt.

"You've run amok long enough; it is time you ceased all this pointless denial and returned that body to _me_. I'm a patient man, Riku, but I am _not_ going to tolerate this childish rudeness any longer."

"You're _insane_ and a _control freak_."

"I was the one who gave you this power!" He cannot stop himself from shouting, but this boy is still _far_ more confident and not _nearly_ as respectful as he should be. It is no longer the outright arrogance he displayed in the corridors and chambers of Hollow Bastion, but it is unacceptable nonetheless.

"I don't want anything to do with _your_ power; I've found my _own_." It was true that he'd anticipated the fight between the original and the copy and had planned to acquire the body of whichever one was victorious, but although the Replica had no memories that would provide resistance to him, as Riku did, those memories and the resulting mental and psychological inadequacies resulted in the Replica's defeat. Still, the incidents concerning the Replica have only served to increase Riku's strength, and that strength is something he is very much looking forward to attaining once again. He will admit that the boy has matured, but he has allowed that because it will also strengthen _him,_when the boy inevitably cedes to him once more.

"My only request is to be accorded the same consideration that I have given you. Surely, you cannot expect that I will let you obtain more and more power and not receive a single thing from you in return."

"_Hypocrite_." So _angry_, this boy, this Riku, that he does not know how the boy does not tremble because of it.

"If nothing else, at least I've improved your vocabulary." The boy is not amused. "I wonder... If you are so adamant about rejecting me, do you still run from the truth that you remain, in fact, _afraid?_"

"That's not it at all." The boy draws his weapon, as if he actually thinks there is a possibility it will save him. "I just can't stand your foul stench."

x

_What a curious thing, the Darkness of the Heart. It sits unprobed, waiting for the worthy to approach it and discover its mysteries. So many shy away from it, but where else are his sleeping memories going to be found if not there? So many others fear the darkness, and would refrain from desiring to open the Door Xehanort has found, but there exists a great deal of knowledge to be found, and a great deal of power to be unlocked._

_x_

Eventually, the boy desires more power, exactly as Ansem predicted he would. He is fighting, always fighting, always _resisting_, this time once more against the Keyblade hero's Nobody. The boy is going to _lose_ the fight unless he acquires more power, and everyone present is aware of that fact.

"I guess... I don't have any choice but to do it, then." As always, his protests are quite entertaining. As he removes that strip of fabric, the blindfold that turns him away from the Darkness and from the truth, Ansem is ready and waiting.

"You _need_ me." He cannot keep the smile out of his voice.

"Shut _up_." And as the boy dives into the Darkness in his heart, he tries to avoid where Ansem is, tries to grab as much as he can without reaching close enough for Ansem to climb out and grab back.

"You _do_." Riku cannot possibly think he will be able to avoid him completely. It is difficult, to refrain from laughing, but he will save that for after his victory.

"I don't need _you_." It is futile, however, bordering on a naiveté he has spent a great deal of planning and effort _removing_ from Riku, for the boy to expect that Ansem will let him take this Darkness without a fight.

And fight they do. It is short, it is brutal, and within the realm of Riku's heart, a hundred attacks flash by in an instant outside. Riku, even with all the injuries the Keyblade hero's Nobody has given him, does not relent; he is covered in cuts and bruises, his lip is split and bleeding, and one of his knees is virtually useless, but no matter how many times Ansem attacks and tries to wrest control from the boy, he continues to fight. Impossibly, _infuriatingly_, Riku pushes Ansem back into the Darkness once more, but even as he sinks back into the deepest recesses of Riku's heart and again becomes contained, he knows that it has not been a total victory for the boy.

"There will be a _price_, Riku. There is always a price." There are _consequences_ for diving that deeply, and it is impossible for him to remain unchanged.

"It's worth it." Ansem does not know why Riku still clings to the idea of that boy so fervently. But Ansem _does_ know where the Keyblade hero's fight will eventually take him, and he knows that Riku cannot keep himself away from that irritating boy as easily as he thinks he can. He knows that the Keyblade hero will eventually return to this City and the Castle above, and if Riku follows him (as Ansem knows he will), then an opportunity will present itself.

x

Kingdom Hearts is massive and pulsing with power, slowly built up for over a _decade_ by his Nobody. Ansem has no intention of joining again with his other half, but the fact that the Nobody who calls himself Xemnas was the creator of this heart-moon does not preclude Ansem from desiring it. Riku is the one that shields the Keyblade hero, the Princess, and the animals from the explosion the man who calls himself "the Wise" creates, but Ansem is the one who pulls _his_ body (and when Ansem has succeeded, it _will_ be his instead of that silly little _boy's_) closer to the hearts, ever-reaching until the end for the power they contain.

x

Riku's first thought when he regains consciousness: _I'm alive._

His second one: _He's __**gone**_.

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Note 2: For the curious, the third section is actually something that was going to be put into my fic **Memory's Skyscraper: August**, but I decided that it would detract from the focus of the story. As such, that section and the two that follow it are canon for my Awakenings verse.


End file.
